


Take Off Your Glasses

by Moondragon8



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: ...kinda?, Desert Bluffs (Welcome to Night Vale), Gen, Post Episode 83: One Normal Town, Pre-Strex Kevin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27215593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondragon8/pseuds/Moondragon8
Summary: A recent history of Desert Bluffs, through the eyes of one of it's more ordinary citizens.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> title from angry people by lemon demon but also kind of rose-colored boy by paramore
> 
> i'm gonna be updating this every day till halloween!!

**“A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the sand is hot, and we are warm. Welcome to Desert Bluffs.”**

A young girl is outside, playing in the street with the other kids on the block. They’re playing “Fairies”. 

When the broadcast starts, they freeze in the middle of their biting and leaping and all turn to look up at the sky. The sun is bright, and even though they all know the Voice is just coming from the radios in everyone’s home, if you squint a little it seems as if it could be coming from the sun itself.

The program goes on for a while, and yet the sun doesn’t seem to move.

“Come inside, dear,” her mother says during one of the pauses. The girl turns and goes inside, waving friendly goodbyes to her friends and passive aggressive goodbyes to her enemies.

“This is why you need to be inside by the time the broadcast starts,” her mother lectures. “Staring at the sun is dangerous.”

“Why?” she asks.

“Because if you see too much light, your eyes may decide they’ve had enough and give up altogether, and then you can’t see anything at all.”

The little girl’s eyes widen in fear and she nods in agreement. “Okay! I’ll only look at the sun a little from now on, promise!”

“Good,” her mother says warmly. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little more desert bluffs funtimes, before the Incident.

**“And just in case you somehow didn’t know, the inaugural elementary school basketball game against Night Vale is next week! Our marching band will be giving a special performance at halftime, and if hecklers try and** **_heckle_ ** **them like last time, the Desert Bluffs Boy Scouts have been given permission to try their new Poking Sticks on those hecklers, to give them a friendly reminder that heckling is** **_rude._ ** **And while we’re at it, I’d like to remind you that we are** **_not_ ** **rude people here in the Bluffs. We are very, very polite, and we will** **_not_ ** **stoop to the level of the hecklers. Also, lemonade at the game will be 20% off to anyone who can calculate percentages!”**

The girl lying on the floor in front of the radio jumps up in excitement at the mention of the marching band. 

“Mom! Dad!” she calls into the kitchen. “You’re coming to the basketball game, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” her dad calls back. 

“How  _ is  _ marching band?” her mother asks. 

“Good,” she says. “There was a problem where the recorders sounded too much like sirens and we all had to go home--”  
“Yes, we remember,” her dad says with a hint of irritation. “We had to come pick you up from school.”

“Oh, right,” she says, mildly embarrassed. 

Her dad ruffles her hair. “So, aside from that, how’s it going?”  
“Good!” she says. “Um, the teacher says I’m doing really good, almost too good, and that if I get much better they’re going to have to remove me from the program altogether!”  
“That’s great! Just don’t get too good!” her mother says. “It’d be a shame for you to have to get removed from the program.” 

She laughs. “Okay, don’t worry, I won’t! No one’s perfect, anyway, so it’d be kinda silly for me to try.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no

Strex had been coming into the town for a long time. Actually, she knew the exact time they started moving in--one month, 6 days, 30 minutes ago. They had a big shining billboard stating it. Kevin had been protesting it for a long time, and then, slowly, he’d stopped protesting--at least, protesting overtly. 

She and her friends didn’t talk about it much, but worry lurked constantly at the back of their minds. Her parents had started laughing less and smiling more. Everything was running on timetables now.

“Listeners,” Kevin said one day, sounding nervous. It automatically made her nervous as well. “Listeners, I am coming to you from what is still my studio, although I’m not sure how much longer it will be my studio, because currently there are people trying to break down the door.” 

She froze in the process of going to do her homework and went to sit down by her parents. 

“Over the past few months, I’ve been subtly spreading anti-Strex sentiment through elaborate metaphors, funny jokes, and sound effects like this. Eeeeeh...well….mmmm...y’know….eehhh…..”   
There was a loud thump over the radio and she flinched along with her parents. 

“Right. I don’t have time. I forgot--I never have time anymore, on this  _ stupid stupid  _ schedule they’ve put into place. Well, anyway, my point is, they got into our churches, somehow, they  _ bought  _ our Smiling God. And I will not stand for it, and I told them I wouldn’t stand for it, and now I am in my studio as they’re trying to break down the door. I think--oh gosh, I’m getting upset, that’s not very professional of me! I’m crying on my microphone! That’s not good, that’s going to just ruin the equipment. Mm. Hm. Hang on.”   
There was some screechy feedback--presumably as Kevin tried to wipe off his microphone. She started to laugh, then faltered as she recalled the solemnity of the situation. She wondered when the next meeting of the Joyous Congregation would be, and how different it would feel. 

“Normally I would never ask this, but--cry for me, Desert Bluffs. Please, please cry for me. It may be the last time you’ll get to cry for a while. I--Hey! How’d you get in here! Hey, no, no,  _ you get away from me-- _ GOODBYE, until next time, if there is a next time,  _ don’t touch me,  _ Desert Bluffs, until next time!”

The broadcast became nothing but screaming and thumping and other sounds too ominous to identify, and her mother reached over and silently turned off the radio. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one takes place right after old oak doors! so spoilers for that ig ^-^

What time is it? What time is it?

She repeats this question to everyone she meets. They all give her back the same blank stare she is sure she is wearing and a slight shake of their heads. 

No one knew what time it was or what they were supposed to be doing. Everyone was walking to feel like they were doing something. Everyone was seized by the same vague faceless dread of not being productive enough.

And yet, no one actually came to tell them they were not being productive enough. In fact, it seemed every Strex higher-up had vanished.

Then the sun began to set. 

Suddenly, that faceless dread has a source, something you can look at and then not look at to feel slightly better. She finds her home, goes inside, turns on the lights, and huddles on her couch, wishing desperately that someone or something will appear and explain what’s going on, what she did wrong,  _ where was the sun? _

An impossible being enters from nowhere and gestures at her. 

The mayor wants to speak.

Still terrified, still not sure how to be terrified, still not used to being terrified, she follows the impossible being to the town square. She sees her fellow citizens, standing in a vague approximation of proper formation.

“Citizens of Desert Bluffs!” a loud voice announces. She tenses a little on instinct, tilts her head back to see this speaker.

The mayor looks different then she remembers. Perhaps this is a different mayor? He clutches the railing tightly. He is wearing soft pastel yellow that strikes a chord somewhere within her. And he is not smiling.

“I am your mayor,” he says. “I know most of you may not know who I am, or who you are. But the Rumbling Beneath the Sand has been trying to tell me I was elected mayor for several years, and now that  _ that company  _ is no longer here, I was finally able to hear it. Very embarrassed that I’d been ignoring it for so long, I quickly found City Hall, filled out the paperwork, and, erm, that’s not actually what I came here to talk about.”

He takes off his glasses and for a brief second puts his head down on the railing in front of him. He looks...tired. She wonders if she is tired too. She wonders when she last slept. 

“I came here to tell you that although,” he seems to force the word out, “ _ Strex _ made us believe that without it we were nothing, that it was all our town ever was or ever will be, that is a lie. We were something before them and we  _ will _ be something again!”

He smiled on the last line, not a happy and productive smile but a bold and confident smile, maybe even a slightly dangerous one. She liked it. She liked him. She thought maybe he was right, that they would be something.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoilers for episode 83 in this one!

The girl is staring out the window, trying to convince her eyes to adjust to the darkness outside. 

The doorbell rings and she yelps, ducking behind the windowsill and holding still. 

Nothing happens for a second, and then there’s an insistent knock. 

“Hello?” a voice calls. It sounds like someone around her age, the girl thinks. “I promise I’m not with the Secret Police!” There’s a pause. “Well, I guess that’s what someone with the Secret Police would say, because it’s supposed to be  _ Secret  _ and all, but anyway, um, I’m just here to deliver your mandatory orange poncho and new citizen packet!” 

She slowly stands up from her crouched position and makes her way over to the door, opening it. The hinges squeak slightly and she winces. 

Someone is standing outside her door, black hair twisting in the slight breeze. They are, in fact, holding an orange poncho and a brochure. 

“Here ya go!” they say, handing the items over to her. 

She takes the poncho and the brochure and gives a nod of thanks.

The person outside her door doesn’t leave. 

The girl begins trying to put on the poncho while still holding the brochure, which makes the situation  _ even more  _ uncomfortable. She tries to smile politely at the person, and oh no, that definitely made the situation way worse because now they looked horrified.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, reaching out to try and--what? Do something to help, and she drops the brochure and she  _ still _ hasn't managed to put on the poncho, oh no. Oh no.

“It’s okay,” the person says, despite the look of terror still on their face. They take several deep, calming breaths. “Sorry. I know—well, I really hope that wasn’t a threat.”

“It wasn’t,” she assures. 

There is a prolonged moment of uncomfortable silence.

“The poncho goes like this,” the person says, doing a series of gestures that remind her of an old cheerleading routine. She tries them and finds, surprisingly, that it works. The poncho fits.

“It looks nice,” the person says. 

“Thanks,” she says, tugging it close around her. It feels protective somehow. And warm, but maybe that’s just the orange color.

“The broadcast starts soon,” the person says. “I should get going.”

“Okay,” she says, and waves goodbye to them. They wave back and vanish into the night.

She goes back inside and settles on her couch. She should try and find her parents tomorrow. They never got to properly conduct the Nest-Emptying Ceremony.

She reaches over and turns on the radio. 

**“Oh no, she’s hot. Oh no, she’s** **_very_ ** **hot. Oh no. Fire.”**

She wraps her poncho tighter. The voice on the radio isn’t speaking to her. Yet. But he will be, soon. She is already beginning to belong to this new town—or maybe it is beginning to belong to her.

**“Welcome to Night Vale.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy halloween yall!! felt it was appropriate to celebrate by posting my first fanfic for my favorite spooooooky town >:3


End file.
